Well I am back from the computer wasteland and itching to get my digital fix to ease the last two weeks of twitchy finger withdrawal symptoms. That's not the subject here though. As the title asks is Linux now ready for the corporate enterprise desktop? In short I say yes and here is my reasoning. The last few years for Linux has been a furious growth phase where it has morphed from a command line geek toy to a mature operating system that has gained respect and support from all the major IT players. Even Microsoft (although they don't want to admit it) has had to recognise Linux as a new kid on the block that has to be treated with respect. So much so that MS is making noise about offering support for Linux. Linux by itself is not enough as in its pure definition Linux is just the kernel. Its all the other programs running on top of the Linux kernel that round it out into the more appropriate term of a GNU/Linux system. I wont be a word splitter so from now on I will just call it Linux like everyone else :). As a computer operating system Linux has evolved to the stage where for the average end user its look and feel is exactly the same as any other graphical orientated operating system. You use the mouse and click on various pretty pictures and the computer does things. Wow! The only difference is that the things the computer does are under slightly different pretty pictures and things are done a bit differently. A little bit like the difference between a Porche and a Volkswagon. When you first use a Porche after spending many years in your trusty beetle it does seem strange and foreign, (even though they are made in the same country) and you are not sure what everything does. After spending some time familiarising yourself with the controls you are soon riproaring around those mountain curves like a pro. So how does this apply to the enterprise? Or more specifically how does this apply to the enterprise desktop. In any organisation there are several types of activities that a computer can be called on to do. They do differ slightly between companies but the basics are all the same. Computers are used in a company for (I believe) the following tasks. Accounting Database Word Processing Spreadsheet Presentation Preparation Internet Email Graphic Manipulation Drawing There are of course others that haven't come to mind immediately but those are the most common ones. The trick here is to think in terms of what work needs to be done and then research and make your decisions accordingly. Remember the computer is just a tool used to accomplish a specific task. Lets use another analogy say, a hammer. There are many different types of hammers of different shapes, weights and configurations but they all have a common purpose. They are designed to hit things. Hard! :) Again back to the computer and the operating system it uses. Can Linux be suitable for the desktop environment? Taking the points outlined above lets compare them. Accounting There are hundreds of accounting packages available but they all count beans. Linux has a couple of good accounting packages so it can be used for accounting. Database A lot of the major databases now run native on Linux and are supported by the big players so that's a no brainer. Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation preparation. I have grouped these together as they normally come bundled as an office suite. Again there are some very good cross-operating system packages and work exactly the same on Linux as on other operating systems so the end user doesn't even have to learn another program. Internet, Email Well without one there isn't the other so the grouping is obvious I think. Again a no brainer. For the same reasons as the office suites Linux can be used here too. Graphic manipulation, drawing. Believe it or not there are many programs for Linux that can do bitmap (jpg, bmp, tiff. etc) manipulation and are very good. For 2d and 3d drawing programs there are also professional programs for that too. As an added bonus they run 20% faster under Linux than under windows and that's a quote from the company that makes the program. I've tested it and its true too. So you see that Linux can do everything that the average desktop machine needs to do. Its ease of use and 'eye candy' is on par (if not better) than the other operating systems. There is in fact no reason that can be put forward to say that Linux is not ready for the enterprise desktop. There are many reasons why it is ready and its only industry inertia preventing a rapid rollout of what I say will be the most successful operating system made so far today. I now state that I believe Linux is suitable for over 90% of the enterprise desktop and I challenge you to give me any valid, validated, reasoned and thoughtful proof to enable me to retract my statement.

Some name

I've always been fascinated with graphics and wrote my first drawing program on the venerable apple ][e. After discovering the x86 IBM clones and wrangling my way into the computer industry I'm now immersed in work as a System Administrator, OS builder (linuxfromscratch) and general technohead.